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Marc knew people didn’t want to be around him. Honestly, how could he blame them? Anytime he made eye contact, the person would turn into stone.
Even as he tried to avoid that outcome, people would shout at him. The snake tail making up his lower body certainly didn’t help matters either. If it wasn’t his power, it was his appearance they mocked. At the last village he had tried living in, some girl with brown hair in three bundles had removed his blindfold despite him warning her not to. Something about how she needed something to distract herself from his ugly tail.
Needless to say, the girl quickly regretted her decision as she was turned to stone. He booked it out of there before anyone could even react.
The life he was living now wasn’t so bad. Of course, having a house in the middle of a forest far away from any civilization meant there was no company besides the animals, but he’d prefer that over being jeered and tormented any day.
His cottage had a small garden by its side. Marc got most of his meals from them. Although, he did eat meat from the critters in the forest sometimes. It took days before he could even begin to harvest the animals his traps got, waiting for them to die without him seeing them first. After all, Marc couldn't exactly eat stone.
His powers only worked on those who could see him. That didn't exactly apply to those who were dead.
---
Marc lit a fire in his fireplace, placing a kettle of water on the grill above it. He slithered over to his bookshelf to grab one of his favorite books.
It was a fairy tale. Honestly, he's an adult and probably should've grown out of them by now, but Marc still enjoyed the story within it.
There once was a girl who had the lower body of a poisonous snake and eyes who could turn any mortal who stared into their alluring gaze into stone. While her appearance may have been horrid, her heart was as pure as a queen.
However, the people around her could not recognize this. They yelled and chased her out of her hometown, forcing her to live in a damp and dark cave by herself.
Marc took the kettle off, pouring the hot water into a cup, putting a tea bag inside, and placing both items on his table as he continued to flip though the pages of the book.
One day, a prince wandered into the cave, injured from a nearby battle against an enemy kingdom. He cried out for help, from anyone who was listening. But nobody was there.
Nobody except the girl.
"Don't look at me!" She cried out, "I will only hurt you!"
"But how could you hurt me when you sound so distressed about it?" The prince asked, peering into the darkness of the cave, "A person who intends harm would never care about that!"
Despite the girl's pleads, he ventured further into the cave, until finally meeting her face to face. She looked up, terrified that she would turn him to stone.
But his heart was as pure as hers. And as their eyes met, the girl was shocked to find her curse did not affect him.
She soon realized that his pure heart had protected him from her judging eyes. The prince stared down at her in shock.
She was beautiful.
The man brought her out of the cave and into the world yet again, proudly declaring that they would be married. With her newfound confidence, the girl's eyes would no longer turn others to stone.
As she had finally learned to love herself.
Marc sighed happily as he shut the pages. It was a children's story, but it meant so much more to him, even now.
It gave him hope he may one day have the same future.
Of course, fairy tales aren't real. So there was no chance. But it was nice to dream.
He picked up his cup, sipping the tea inside it. Marc stood up to put back the book and grab another one, bringing his tea with him. The gorgon had just finished placing the book back on the shelf when a loud noise startled him, making him drop his cup.
Marc swiveled around towards the door in shock, hearing the insistent knocking that would not stop. He backed up, not sure what to do. Nobody had ever come here before. That's why he had chosen to live in this house.
"Please let me in!" A voice pleaded. The doorknob shook rapidly, like the person was trying to open it from outside.
But since Marc never expected anyone but him to be in this area, he had left it unlocked. The door swung open and the man stumbled in before righting himself.
"Ah! No, no, don't look at me!" Marc threw his arms over his eyes. He couldn't deal with another one!
"U-Um... You don't have to worry about that? If you're not clothed right now, I can leave until you're ready!"
Marc peered up through his arms, tail tapping rapidly against the ground out of anxiety.
He made eye contact with the man who had entered his house.
Marc shrieked, covering his face again, waiting for the murmuring that would turn into horrified screams to start. But nothing happened. Confused, he looked up, making eye contact with the man again. Nothing.
What..?
"No, uh, sir, I mean. I literally can't see. I'm blind."
Marc shot up from the floor, "You are?!"
The other nodded, "If it doesn't bother you, can I stay here for a bit? I'm a bit injured right now."
Marc blinked, eyes trailing over to the man's side. There was a red stain and it was only growing larger.
"Oh, of course! Come over, let's get you in a bed so you can rest!"
"Thank you," The redhead beamed, "I'm Nathaniel!"
Marc smiled back, even though the other couldn't see it, "Marc."
---
They had tried finding his traveling group so Nathaniel could return to his previous life, but Nathaniel couldn't remember their route and Marc had no knowledge of any nearby civilizations, so the redhead ended up living with him.
Nathaniel ended up being a great companion. He was sweet and kind and helpful.
But he had never told him about his gorgon body. Nathaniel would be terrified and Marc didn't want to scare away the one person he could finally interact with after all these years.
He should've expected this would've caused problems eventually.
Marc flinched as Nathaniel's foot hit the tip of his tail, although he held in his yelp of pain.
Nathaniel, on the other hand, shrieked, jumping away and backing up, "Snake! Snake in the house!"
...Well he wasn't wrong.
By the time Marc looked over, quickly moving his tail away from Nathaniel, the redhead had clamored onto a chair, "Is it poisonous? Like can it kill people? You've lived here longer, you tell me!"
The villagers all screamed as they backed up from the stone statue that was once Lila. Marc stared in shock.
He didn't mean... He warned...
He killed someone.
Again.
"...Sometimes," Marc curled up his own tail, "I'll put it outside."
"Thank you," Nathaniel said in gratitude, standing up and walking out of Marc's way.
Marc opened the door and shut it after a few seconds. He leaned his head against the door with a quiet, disappointed sigh.
He would tell Nathaniel one day. But for now, Marc was content to keep this a secret to himself.